Collectors item goal for Jason Lowe today too.

Only watched the second half onwards, but what a game. Seemed to me that Bolton are still some way away from being a team that could challenge for promotion in that league too.

Genuinely wonder if the £5 million is a typo, missing a 1. It just seems like such a bizarre figure for a player of his age and goal record who has effectively 18 months left to run on his contract.

There's a good case to keep Wharton in the team, definitely. Very impressive considering the time he's spent away, even though you could say he could've dealt with their goal better. Don't get me wrong, I think there's a pretty good case to keep the whole XI the same (and I hope we mostly do) but I wouldn't go overboard with how solid we looked, personally. I think we were great overall, and should have scored more than three, but at the same time our goal lived a bit of a charmed life to keep them down to just the one. This after the Fulham game, I think this is one of those cases where one or two changes to a winning side is warranted and not just Mowbray being Mowbray.

It's been covered a few different times on the thread, but I think it just shows how the scrutiny that modern footballers face is just a lot harder for them to avoid compared to previous generations. Couldn't agree more that Brereton has only ever had support from the overwhelming majority fans inside the ground. I distinctly remember the very warm reaction to his first (I think?) goal for us when we beat Bolton towards the end of his first season. No sign whatsoever that the fans were giving him stick more than any other player at that point. All that said - and this is an inescapable fact for every decent sized club, not just Rovers - the comments that are made about players after games are absolutely everywhere and some players get made targets. I don't think we can honestly say that Brereton (or more typically the expensive signing of Brereton as a stick to beat Mowbray with) wasn't a go-to target for people venting their spleen when things weren't going our way, and unlike 20 years ago this wasn't all done in the pub after the game where the player is none the wiser. Only a (probably small) minority and happens at every club, but not easy for a young boy to deal with all the same.

Not defending Mowbray's tendency to over-tinker, but I think Ayala & Pickering coming back in is entirely fair enough. Edun (as much as I'm glad that we have him) found it tough going against Sheffield United and obviously was obviously a part of the Fulham drubbing. Dropping Wharton after a good return is harsh I suppose, but I think you'd really struggle to overestimate the importance of Ayala's contribution before he got injured. I suspect that he'll get his chance again sooner rather than later anyway, but in the meantime I'd look to make the very most we can out of Ayala before his next spell out.

I'd just about lean towards Davenport over Edun, but other than that I like that side. Khadra slightly unlucky after a goal and a good second half performance vs Sheffield United, but to be honest I thought they masked him having some pretty dreadful spells until that point. I like him, but his game intelligence/respect for possession needs a lot of work for me. It would be a big call leaving out Rothwell though. It was one thing to drop him last time out when we could've easily done the same to the whole starting XI, but generally this year he's been involved in a lot of what we've done well. If we go back to 433, I can see Mowbray going with: Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering Buckley Travis Rothwell Poveda Brereton-Diaz Dolan

Just had a look now. There's some awareness of the depth of feeling towards him, but not really any about why he's hated so much. Basically seem to think he was out of his depth at the time, but nothing else dodgy beyond his record on the pitch.

Generally I think Malan gets a bit too much of a hard time, but I think we could rue him not really cashing in after eating up so many balls. Massive powerplay coming up

Runs on the board, but I'd say advantage NZ with them batting second in these conditions.

This isn't in any way meant to be a dig at Jones - loved him as a player at Rovers and really want his next move to work out, but I never got the sense he was really emotionally connected enough for him to want to make this sort of 'homecoming' move at this stage. I'm sure Rovers was/is his team, but not in the same way that we are for the likes of Dunn, Wharton, Derbyshire etc. I suppose beggars/choosers when it comes to his injury record, but even if he doesn't get a prem move, I can see a good level European club coming in and being able to offer more in wages than we could.

Not sure if it has already been mentioned, but Aberdeen's Head of Recruitment (or equivalent) is Mowbray's younger brother. A quick scan on their message board a couple of weeks ago and it seems commonly accepted that he'll be here at some point, either in January or later on a free. Seems very likely that there's truth in it.

Having seen it back, what did you make of them getting in behind the defence on our left as much as they seemed to? I moved seats to the Jack Walker, so couldn't really be sure whether it was Edun's fault or whether he needed more help from Khadra. I think Khadra is the one attacking player who could justifiably be replaced against Bristol City to be honest. A bit harsh maybe, given his goal and strong second half performance, but I thought his game awareness & respect for possession was really poor until his equaliser. Different sort of player, but I was far more impressed with Poveda. Your assessment is pretty much in line with how I saw it - best game I've seen in I don't know how long but it's not sustainable to concede as many chances as we did.

Didn't get to see the Hudds game, so I can't comment on that, but I don't remember any other time this season when his winger has really had the beating of him. There have been unimpressive moments here and there, but obviously a big improvement on what we've had (admittedly not that hard). Agree that he doesn't have much interest in taking players on, but that isn't such a big issue if his delivery is good enough when he gets space, and there are promising signs on that front. My main point though is that whilst he's only been fairly solid so far, I expect him to get a lot better given his age and where he has played so far, so ideally I'd want him and Edun both getting time on the pitch. Far, far too soon to be saying that he's a poor buy at this stage in my view.

I think there's a chance that in a few years he could really excel in that position, dictating games. Agree that he's not at that point yet though.

Earlyish days, but I agree that he looks to have real potential. Being harsh for a second I thought he faded badly against Coventry, losing the ball in bad positions in the second half and maybe showing a bit of naivety and lack of discipline as a defender, but that aside I think he's looked very promising wherever he's played. Long term I like the idea of having Pickering at left back and Edun in midfield. I think whilst Pickering hasn't been the marauding attacking full back that maybe a few of us expected, he's still been pretty effective in attack & defence and should only improve given his age.

Whilst that is clearly a step too far, there's no escaping the fact that Gally's stats have been great this year, especially when you factor in that he's missed a reasonable amount of game time through injuries. I thought too that whoscored might not take things like chances missed into consideration, but to be fair it seems as though he's been very clinical this year (Derby aside!) with a goal for every 2.1 shots. To put in perspective, that's a lot better than Mitrovic & Brereton. Don't get me wrong, we're still very much in 'not value for money' territory when you factor in previous seasons, but at the same time he's showing that he can be a real asset in this league if he plays in the right system. He definitely doesn't warrant being put in the same bracket of the Grabbis/Davies/Peacocks of this world who delivered absolutely nothing for their big fees.

Calf problem, apparently. Sounds like he'll be out until after the international break.

That too, yes, but then again I don't think Rovers are different to most clubs these days in asking full backs to do as much attacking as they do defending. It's just a very physically demanding position and I suspect that Nyambe would've picked up his fair share of muscle injuries for 90% of teams at this level.

No Gallagher on Wednesday by the sounds of it. He's had his critics even this season but that's a massive loss to go along with our defensive absentees. Looks like we won't have too many other options to make any changes from: TK Buckley Lenihan Van Hecke Edun Travis Johnson Rothwell Khadra Dolan Brereton Johnson having only just returned will probably mean decent minutes for Davenport at some point before the international break too.

Perhaps if he goes to a top-flight club where he he only plays once a week. If he moves to another Championship club I'd expect the same issues to follow him sadly, his body doesn't seem to be able to take 3 games a week over a sustained period without occasionally breaking down.

Deceptively tricky game - they've been going very well for a club in crisis and the mood will be lifted with the positive signs on their takeover. Seems like they've been tricky to score against with Davies and Jagielka at the back, but in Dolan, Rothwell, Brereton and to an extent Gallagher, we've got the players who can cause problems for aging legs. Strikes me as a little strange that Nyambe is rated as touch and go for this one. All the talk last week that it was either 1) cramp or 2) a hamstring strain, which unless it was a very mild one would have kept him out of this one. Hopefully it's just Tony keeping his cards close to his chest.

Cocu would be a massive no from me. He seemed even more dogmatic on sticking to a style of play which wasn't working than Mowbray was last year. Rooney wouldn't be my first choice by any means, but his next job (assuming he'll be leaving Derby at some point in the next year or so, maybe much sooner) will be interesting. He still has the massive name behind him, and I think the general view is that he's done a pretty decent job under very, very difficult circumstances, but at the same time I can't see a premierleague club (or a well-resourced Championship team) being too fussed about him. His wages might be dictated by the clubs that want him, and a club in our position might well be the best he can hope for.

Agree - fitness of Dolan/Gally depending. I think the only case for not starting Butterworth if we're missing at least 2 out of Brereton, Gally and Dolan could be ongoing concerns about his fitness, but if he can't even manage 60 minutes by now then that's a really bad sign.

Have a bad feeling that you're right. Coventry are my bogey side. My first game watching the Rovers was against Cov in 1996 (7?) when we lost 2-1 after Sherwood scored in the opening minute. Probably still the earliest goal I've seen live some twenty odd years later. Since then, despite us having beaten every decent-sized club in the land several times over, I don't think I've ever seen us beat them in the flesh. Missed the odd victory when we played them in the league, then there were those God awful games in the cup under Sparky. Hopefully we put the Ghost to rest on Saturday! But with their start & our lack of options up front, I'm going 1-1.